For my next mushroom dyeing project, I'm using Western Jack-o'-Lantern (Omphalotus olivascens), which produces purples, grays, and greens with protein fibers like wool and silk. The pigment is highly pH-sensitive: acidic baths yield purples and grays, while alkaline baths produce mossy to deep forest greens. If possible, I plan to try producing both, although I have a limited quantity of dried mushrooms.
Western Jack-o'-Lantern is an orange to brown-colored, gilled, poisonous mushroom, endemic to the North American west coast. It thrives in coastal oak forest and fruits through fall and winter. It has several look-a-likes including Cantharellus cibarius. The Jack-o'-Lantern mushroom has true, blade-like gills (rather than ridges). Omphalotus species are saprotrophic (meaning they grow directly on wood, typically oak, madrone, and eucalyptus), and are bioluminescent.
Key Supplies
I'm using my usual dye equipment, including a convection burner, non-reactive stainless steel pot, candy thermometer, strainer, cheese cloth, various plastic pails and containers for soaking and rinsing fabric, digital kitchen scale, stir stick, a mild pH-neutral soap (such as Synthropol or Professional Textile Detergent), rubber gloves, and a face mask. Specific supplies and equipment includes:
- Dried or fresh Omphalotus olivascens mushrooms. Use a 1:1 ratio of mushrooms-to-fabric. I purchased one ounce of foraged, dried mushrooms from a supplier on Etsy (The Constant Forager).
Caution: This mushroom is highly toxic if ingested, and can cause skin irritation. Always wear gloves when handling, and use dedicated dye pots and utensils when dyeing.
- Protein-based fiber or fabric, like wool or silk. I'm using two 100% silk scarves from Dharma Trading that have been scoured and mordanted with alum. For details, see Dye Project: Preparing Protein Fabric (Scour & Mordant). Each scarf weighs one ounce or 28 grams, so I'll be dyeing two ounces of fabric. With a recommended ratio of 1:1 mushrooms-to-fabric, my ratio of 1:2 may yield paler results.
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Dried Western Jack-o'-Lantern mushrooms
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- pH modifiers. Since the pigment is highly pH-sensitive, you can change the color outcome by manipulating the acidity or alkalinity of the dye bath. I'll be using white vinegar (acidic) and washing soda or soda ash (alkaline) as modifiers.
- pH test strips. Test strips are useful for determining how acidic or alkaline the dye bath is.
- Modifiers (optional): Use Iron (Ferrous Sulfate) to shift colors toward darker greens and grays. I may want to add it as a modifier to the dye bath to manipulate it to a darker color.
Extract the Dye
Extracting color from mushrooms is very similar to extracting color from plants. Chop the mushrooms into pieces, cover with water, bring to a simmer, and then simmer to extract the color. The process is the same whether you're using fresh or dried mushrooms.
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| Break the fresh or dried mushroom into pieces |
First, break the mushrooms into small pieces (stems and caps). Since this mushroom is toxic, I wear rubber gloves to protect my hands. Place the mushroom pieces in a non-reactive pot and cover with two gallons of water. Color was released into the water almost immediately, and the pH registered 6 (mildly acid).
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| Color is released almost immediately |
Bring the temperature slowly to around 150-180 °F (the Regional Palettes article cited below recommends 165 °F as the ideal for Western Jack-o'-Lantern, but it is unclear if that applies to extracting dye or to dyeing wool). Simmer for 30 to 60 minutes until the mushrooms have released their color. The dye bath was a deep brown color, but with a tinge of red in certain light.
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| Western Jack-O-Lantern dye bath after simmering for an hour |
Let the dye bath cool. Once cool, you can strain out the the mushroom solids using a sieve lined with cheese cloth. I let the mushrooms soak overnight to extract as much color as possible, and strained the dye bath the next day. Alternatively, if you are dyeing yarn, you can leave the mushrooms in the dye bath for a more mottled, intense hue, but it will take some time to pick the pieces out of the yarn. Surprisingly, the pH registered 5 at this time (moderately acid).
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| Straining the mushroom pieces out of the dye |
When straining the mushroom pieces out of the dye, I was surprised to see that the brown liquid actually has a purple caste to it. I've been reading how complex mushroom colors are, and I can definitely see that. After straining the dye, looks like there is a little over three quarts to be divided into two batches for the two dye projects.
Dye Fabric Purple or Gray (Acidic)
For the first batch, I decided to try for a shade of purple, which is apparently tricky to achieve. You need to remove the fabric from the dye as soon as the purple color appears, after about 5-15 minutes in the dye pot. This is counter intuitive to most dye projects, in which you let the fabric soak in the dye until you achieve a darker or richer color, often overnight. However, in this case if you leave the fabric in the dye bath longer, the color quickly changes from purple to muddy grays or brown. I will try for a shade of purple, but be content with a shade of gray or brown!
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| The filtered dye has a definite purple cast to it |
Place the dye in a clean non-reactive pot, and then add a generous splash of white vinegar to change the acidity of the dye bath to pH 4 - 5 (moderately acid). Test the pH of the dye bath, and add a little more vinegar as needed. My splash of vinegar might have been a little too generous, since the pH registered more like 3 (but still in the moderately acid range).
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| Pre-soak the fabric in warm water |
Bring the temperature of the dye bath to 150-180 °F (I aimed for 165 °F, the temperature recommended in the Regional Palettes article cited below). This took about 30 minutes. While the dye bath is coming to temperature, pre-soak your wool or silk in warm water. This will improve how the fabric takes up the dye.
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| Distribute the fabric for an even uptake of dye |
Add the fabric to the simmering dye pot and stir to distribute evenly. Add more water to cover if necessary. This will not dilute the dye; it just ensures a better of distribution of the dye to the fabric. Check the color frequently. Remove the fabric as soon as it turns purple (usually 5-15 minutes). If left in the bath too long, the color darkens into muddy grays or browns. This was a little tricky since I wasn't sure exactly what color of purple to look for, but I pulled the fabric out after about 10 minutes, and placed it on a plastic tray to let the color set. The color was initially slightly purple, but then changed to a lovely, complex gray.
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| Let the fabric cool (initially it was this purplish color) |
Remove the fabric from the dye pot, and let it cool without rinsing to allow the color to set. Let it dry overnight for 24 hours before you rinse, so you don't change the pH. When cool, you can either rinse thoroughly in lukewarm water (optionally, add a splash of vinegar to the rinse water to maintain the acidity) and hang to dry, out of direct sunlight; or you can forgo rinsing, hang to dry, and rinse later. I chose the latter, to give the dye more time to set.
Two weeks later, I washed the fabric with a mild pH-neutral soap, such as Synthropol or Professional Textile Detergent, to wash out unbound dye, and hung to air dry, out of direct sunlight. The resulting color is a pale gray, with a hint of purple in certain light.
Dye Fabric "Green" (Alkaline)
For the second batch, I decided to try for a shade of olive green. If I wanted a darker shade of green, I could add iron (Ferrous Sulfate).
Place the dye in the clean non-reactive pot, and make the dye bath alkaline by adding washing soda (soda ash) to reach a pH of 8 to 10. To do this, add 1 teaspoon of soda ash at a time, testing after each addition. I added 1 teaspoon of soda ash to register a pH of 10 (possibly because my dye bath is fairly small). Note that the color goes from purple to brown during this process, which you want for producing green.
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| Preparing to dye |
Bring the temperature of the dye bath to a low heat (150 - 180 °F). This typically takes about 30-60 minutes. I brought the temperature to 160 °F. While the dye bath is coming to temperature, pre-soak your wool or silk in warm water. This improves how the fabric takes up the dye.
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| Pre-soaking the protein-based fabric in warm water |
Add the fabric to the simmering dye pot and stir to distribute evenly. Add more water to cover if necessary. Simmer gently until you achieve the desired mossy or olive or forest green (about 30 to 45) minutes).
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| The photo doesn't show it, but the dye bath was a light olive green |
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| The dye result was buttery yellow! |
However, the fabric did not actually dye a shade of green—only a lovely shade of buttery yellow! In a last-ditch effort, I added 1/8 teaspoon of iron (Ferrous sulfate) to the dye bath, which turned a darker shade that looked more like a green olive. The pH registered between 10 and 11 (still strongly alkaline). I placed the ends of the silk scarf in the dye bath and simmered for another 45 minutes.
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| Simmering the scarf ends in dye modified with iron |
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| Initially, the scarf ends looked like they darkened in color |
Remove the fabric from the dye pot, and let it cool without rinsing to allow the color to set. Let it dry overnight for 24 hours before you rinse, so you don't change the pH. You can either rinse thoroughly in lukewarm water and hang to dry, out of direct sunlight; or you can forgo rinsing, hang to dry, and rinse later. I chose the latter, to give the dye more time to set. In my case, the ends still look buttery yellow, with no change towards green. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised—when looking at the Mushroom Color Atlas, the base pigment for fabric dyed with Omphalotus olivascens has a yellowish hue.
Two weeks later, I washed the fabric with a mild pH-neutral soap, such as Synthropol or Professional Textile Detergent, to wash out unbound dye, and hung to air dry, out of direct sunlight. The resulting color is a very pale yellow, and almost white in certain light.
The Results
The final results of dyeing with dried Western Jack-o'-Lantern mushrooms were quite pale. The alkaline dye bath yielded a very pale yellow shade, that is almost white in some light; there is definitely no green shade, even with the iron added to the dye bath later in the process. The acidic dye bath yielded a lovely and complex shade of gray, with a tinge of purple in certain light; there was a brief shade of purple during the dyeing process, but it quickly turned gray.
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| Left-to-right: the alkaline dye bath yielded pale yellow; the acid bath yielded gray |
In retrospect, I probably should have procured more of the dried mushroom, or focused on one color or the other. A 1:1 ratio of mushrooms-to-fabric was recommended, and I used a ratio of 1:2 in order to try both an acidic and an alkaline dye bath. You can't blame a girl for trying!
In the past, I've often kept the dye bath for future project, to experiment with a second dye session. Since I had such pale results, I decided not to keep the dye bath for future use.
For the alkaline dye bath, I should have either pre-mordanted the silk with iron as well as alum, before dyeing, or included the iron as a mordant additive to the dye bath from the beginning. Still, it was fun to experiment.
Another factor in the dye results may have been temperature. My research indicated that the dye bath for Western Jack-o'-Lantern mushrooms should be between 150-180 °F. I tried to keep the temperature at about 165 °F when extracting and dyeing, but maybe that was too hot. According to the Color Atlas Batch Notes, 140 °F might be a better temperature to use. See: "https://mushroomcoloratlas.com/mushroom/omphalotus_olivascens/" and search the Index for
Even though I didn't get some of the vibrant shades of purple, gray, or green that I saw other dyers achieving, I had a lot of fun trying new things and experimenting along the way!
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